


Adventures in NC's 3-8

by coffeebooks



Series: Supercorp B99 AU [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV) Fusion, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/F, Fluff and Humor, Multi, SuperCorp, b99 au, lots of pining, possibly future agentreign, sanvers for now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 20:05:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17372435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeebooks/pseuds/coffeebooks
Summary: “We are going to be so fucking late!” Kara complains, throwing her hands in the air with clear frustration.“Oh you don’t say," Lena sarcastically says, rolling her eyes in annoyance.Kara sends her a glare, “Now is not the time for your sarcasm, Luthor!” Kara continues, “It’s my cousin’s wedding! And I’m going to miss it!”Lena sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. She is equally angry with the situation and she understands Kara's frustration, but complaining is not going to help them finish the case any faster.“Well, it’s not like I asked the perp to escape prison!” she add and Kara huffs a breath as she glares at the youngest Luthor once again. If looks could kill, Kara would be murdering Lena on the spot in that moment.OrAfter their bet, Kara and Lena finally get a along better. However, they still love to annoy each other. With newfound feelings for detective Luthor, Kara will have to learn to cope with them or move on.Follow the adventures and shenanigans of detectives Luthor and Zor-El, and the rest of the cops of precinct 3-8 as they fight crime in National City.OrThe continuation of my B99 AU





	Adventures in NC's 3-8

_“Kara, do you have eyes on the suspect?”_

_“Kara? Do you copy?”_

Kara snaps out of her thoughts suddenly and her eyes refocus on the gala taking place in front of her. People in formal dresses and tailored suits waltz around the room in practiced moves, while they chat loudly and occasionally laugh about different topics that seem to vary from the stock market to the latest gossips of the wealthiest families of National City. Still, despite the cynical vibe around the room, Kara can’t help but appreciate the unique beauty of the whole scenery.

In the middle of the salon, there is a large chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling that bathes the room in a faint shade of bright orange as people swirl around the place like professional dancers. For an instant, it’s like being transported back to the setting of a historical fiction novel, where galas and royal dances took place. Kara barely has time to enjoy it though, because her attention is brought back to task in hand as she scans the room searching for their suspect.

Dressed like a waitress herself, with a blue vest over her white dress shirt and with a little blue tie to accompany it, Kara makes her way around the room with a tray of cups of one of the finest brands of champagne in the world over her hand, her eyes still carefully trained in every single person that fits the description she is looking for. Discreetly, Kara looks around the very crowded room, occasionally smiling at the people that stop to take a drink from her and nodding politely to them in return to their thankful words.

It has been a few hours of waiting and she is starting to feel the exhaustion and frustration fill her whole body. The glasses of champagne in her tray are almost completely gone and Kara is beginning to think that they are running out of time. Just when a very tall lady in a purple dress stops her to grab a drink, her tired eyes finally spot the person she’s been looking for the whole night. At that, she almost cheers in excitement, but refrains from doing so in order to preserve her cover.

_Tall, blonde, white man in a suit_

“I have eyes on the suspect,” Kara finally says over the earpiece after a long moment of silence. The little communication device is perfectly hidden behind her ear and it is surprisingly not visible despite the fact that her hair is up in a tidy bun.

The suspect, a middle-age man named Christopher Richardson, is standing not so far away from where Kara is standing, and he seems to be making a small talk with what appears to be some Chinese investors. He is distracted by the conversation, so Kara takes the opportunity to approach him without raising suspicion, slowly and carefully striding towards them. However, the moment she is about to reach his side, he abruptly ends the conversation and waves the investors goodbye, before heading towards the snacks table outside in the garden instead, still with an unfinished glass of wine in his hands.

For an instant Kara thinks that he’s seen her and her heart thumps rapidly at the prospect of having blown her cover. However, a brief look at his features unveil his annoyance and Kara figures that the real reason for his abrupt departure was that he was no longer comfortable chatting with those people.

Trying very hard not to draw attention her way, Kara makes her way through the waves of dancing individuals as he follows Richardson. The task, though, is easier said than done because old ladies and drunk lads get in the middle, blocking her way out.

Huffing in annoyance, Kara discreetly presses the device behind her ear, “Lena, he is heading your way” she mumbles over the earpiece, her eyes never leaving the man as he walks outside, after getting through the crowd of dancers successfully.

“ _Copy that,_ ” she hears the voice of the brunette and unconsciously, her baby blues eyes search for her among the crowd.

It doesn’t take long for Kara to catch sight of Lena in the end. Granted, she is not very tall, even in heels; but there is something about Lena’s presence that just stands out from the rest of the crowd. Lena Luthor exudes confidence and power, almost as if her sole presence demands attention.

 _Or maybe it is just Kara who can’t keep her eyes away from her_.

Lena is wearing a stunning black dress that falls to her knees and that perfectly hugs her in all the right places. Her hair is up in a professional bun and Kara’s attention is drawn back to the expanse of her pale neck and her perfect collarbones on display, the reason why Kara had been distracted the whole night apparently.

However, a large hand gently pressed in Lena’s back is what makes her snap out of her thoughts once again, with a pang of something akin to discomfort filling her suddenly. Lena is there in front of her, but she is not alone. James is dancing with her, looking dashing in a black tuxedo. With gentle grip in Lena’s back, James guides her through the dance, following the steps almost as if he has had years of experience doing this. They both seem to be doing it effortlessly, almost as if they were born for this, and from an outsider’s view, they seem like a very good-looking couple dancing around and enjoying their evening.

Captain J’onzz thought it was a good idea to send Lena undercover in this case. She was a Luthor after all, so if her cover got blown for whatever reason, it wouldn’t be surprising for someone of her family to be attending such high-profile gala. And of course, considering it was a gala, someone had to be Lena’s plus one. And it turned out to be James.

Kara bites her lower lip again in annoyance as she watches them swirl around the ballroom in perfect sync as they keep an eye on the suspect as well. Kara just lets out an exasperated sigh as she thinks about it. She watches in envy and starts to wonder what kind of joke this might be, since she can’t believe James gets to dance the whole night with Lena while she has to stand in the sidelines and pretend to be a waitress.

“ _I think he’s made me,_ ” James says over the earpiece, before cursing under his breath, which makes Kara look up immediately, her intrusive thoughts suddenly interrupted by James’ abrupt pause.

When she does, she sees a very distressed Richardson sprinting away from Lena and James, causing quite the commotion as he pushes unsuspecting people away on his way to the exit.

Before Kara can react, she sees Lena running after him as fast as her incredibly high stilettos allow her to. It is a little weird, Kara can’t help but think. _The way she runs_. However, Kara guesses it’s because of the heels, which she thinks it’s what doesn’t allow her to move at full speed. Then again, Kara thinks that if it was her in those heels, she wouldn’t even be able to be half as fast as Lena is in that moment.

“Damn it,” Lena mutters angrily, cursing under her breath, before she stops for a second to take off her heels. The sudden movement take Kara and James by surprise and they can’t do anything other than just stand there staring at Lena, almost too shocked to react.

The rest happens so fast that Kara barely even has time to blink and take a breath. In what seems to be just an instant, a shoeless Lena sprints faster towards the suspect, heels still in hand, and leaps off the ground in a swift move. Kara’s eyes widen in surprise when Lena suddenly tackles the suspect to the ground in the middle of loud gasps and slackened jaws.

“Damn,” Kara mutters under her breath, still in shock and something akin to amazement, only to realize that James is looking at Lena the same way.

After a moment of confusion, the two of them spare each other just a surprised glance, before they hurry towards Lena’s side, who is already handcuffing Richardson in the ground in the middle of curious onlookers who are just clapping excitedly and filming everything with their cellphones.

“Damn Luthor, that was fast,” it’s the only sentence that Kara manages to string together after what she saw.

 _And hot_.

Kara suddenly blushes at the unavoidable thought, mentally berating herself for that. Lena’s eyes widen slightly as she gives Kara a proud a smile, still quite taken aback at the sudden compliment the blonde threw her way, still not used to receiving those from Kara Zor-El apparently. It’s surprising, but quite pleasing nevertheless.

\\\

The night is still young when the three detectives arrive back to the precinct. Still, it is way pass their working shift, so as they stride into the bullpen, it is surprising to notice that despite the late hour, everyone from their squad is still there. The detectives are all gathered around Sam’s desk, Winn and Alex hovering over Sam’s shoulders trying to see whatever it is on her computer.

From the looks of it, they are all watching a footage of what went down in the gala that night. There, Kara can see a repetition of what she saw earlier, Lena leaping off the ground like a wild gazelle and effortlessly tackling the guy into the ground. Only now that she watches it on a device instead of live, it seems as if everything had happened in slow motion instead of in mere seconds.

“That was impressive,” Winn says, still with his mouth agape as he replays the video but slowed down.

Lena just chuckles as she leans over his shoulder to watch it herself, the scene playing frame by frame. And as Kara looks her way, she notices that she seems as surprised as everyone else, almost as if she can’t believe she was able to pull such a stunt. Kara can’t believe it herself, but she is sure that it is for a completely different reason than Lena.

“Good job out there, detectives.” Captain J’onzz tells them as he suddenly walks out of his office in that moment, making everyone turn their attention his way. Everybody knows that Captain J’onzz’ expressions are always almost unreadable, but Kara can tell that this time he is satisfied, which makes her smile cheekily.

“Thanks.”

“I think Lena did also manage to catch quite the attention,” Sam mentions suddenly, her eyes trained on her computer screen as she switches the window in front of her to one showing the most recent news online. Kara turns to look at the screen as well and her eyes catches sight of some of the bigger headlines at display.

 

_Detective Lena Luthor strikes again_

_Luthor heiress undercover in gala stops white-collar criminal_

_Years after Lex Luthor’s arrest, step-sister Lena Luthor, appears on a high-profile event again_

_Lena Luthor: Heroine? Or bitch?_

Kara frowns at the last one though, but Lena doesn’t seem to mind at all. “It seems like I completely blew up my cover,” Lena says as she laughs at the last headline. “Luckily it was after catching the guy.”

“People were bound to recognize you at some point,” the captain tells her. “Your family is quite high-profile after all; but you did good out there, detective.”

“Thank you, sir.” Lena softly says, a grin of satisfaction painting her features and a unique spark in her emerald eyes.

 Almost as if they had a mind of their own, Kara’s eyes slowly and subtly-at least that’s what she thinks- fall on her again and before she even has time to process her natural reactions to her, there is a proud smile on her face.

\\\

After they are finished debriefing the captain of what happened that night, Kara tiredly walks back to her desk, ready to go home and really looking forward to it. It’s been a very exhausting evening and she can already picture her reheated pizza and her warm bed as she rapidly scrambles around the messy stuff in her bag, checking if she has everything she needs in there before can leave.

Kara is already out of her waitress outfit, back to wearing her usual clothes, which she has to admit are not much different from it, except that the vest and tie have been replaced by a leather jacket and her badge.

“Hey Kara, can I talk you for a second?”

Kara looks up from her desk in that instant and her curious eyes find James there, still wearing the elegant black tux from earlier. He sheepishly walks towards her with his hands in his pockets, the slow motion making it seem that he is hesitant. Once he’s finally reached Kara’s desk, he leans against it as he looks at her in way Kara can’t exactly read. He seems nervous, at least, that she can tell.

“Sure James, what’s up?” she tells him, trying to be reassuring as she notices the way he begins to nervously rub his nape as he trains his attention on her.

Kara furrows her eyebrows at that, confused by his very strange behavior, but lets it go immediately, knowing James will eventually tell her the reason why he’s acting this way.

James makes a small pause, before he continues, “So uhm, you and Lena… you are kind of like friends now, right?” he finally asks, almost stuttering, his voice trembling a little.

Taken aback by the sudden question, Kara’s eyes widen in surprise as she looks at him trying to decipher the meaning behind his words.

Kara was clearly not expecting that when James said he wanted to talk to her and she is really not sure if she even wants to talk about Lena with him. Not after watching them dance the whole night. It feels a little too personal, something that is solely her, and the whole situation is starting to make her feel uncomfortable.

Discomfort must be clearly showing in her face and she might have grimaced at some point, because James’ expression seems to fall slightly at that. It’s something she can’t avoid really. However, no matter how awful it is, she still thinks she owes him an answer to his question.

Kara then sighs, thinking before answering, “Well we’ve never not been friends… but I would say that after the bet I think we got closer,” she awkwardly answers, unable to put her current relationship with Lena into words. They weren’t enemies per se, just very competitive co-workers. After the bet though, something in their dynamic seemed to shift, turning them into friends that occasionally bantered. “Why do you ask?”

“Great!” he nervously says at that, almost a little too fast, “It’s just…” James makes a pause before saying what he wanted to say, and Kara starts feeling dread fill her whole body the longer he takes to say what he needs to say. “I was just thinking about asking her out…”

James pauses after that, looking attentively at her as if attempting to gauge her response. However, Kara doesn’t really react, at least not immediately. As the information begins to sink in, Kara freezes in her spot and seems to tune out his ramble completely. It’s almost as if someone had just suddenly poured a bucket of cold water over her head, making shivers run down her spine as she internalizes the implications of what he had just said.

“Y-You want to ask her out…” she repeats robotically, trying not to stutter as she mumbles those words in repetition, almost as if she didn’t hear it the first time. She did though, she heard him very clearly, but she is still having a hard time processing his words in that moment.

James’ expression falls once again, “You don’t think it’s a good idea?” he asks immediately, and Kara can already sense him internally freaking out. His eyes widen, and he starts to nervously fidget; it’s behavior so unlike James that Kara starts to worry that this is really serious, and she really doesn’t want to think about that. “Has she told you anything? Be honest please Kara, I don’t want to screw this up.”

Kara looks at him once again and just lets out a sigh. James looks desperate, but Kara really doesn’t want to be the one to answer that question for him. Frankly speaking, she doesn’t know whether Lena likes James or not, and she really doesn’t want to know if she likes him, or anyone else for that matter.

“I… I don’t really know, James,” she awkwardly answers, being completely honest and hoping he can feel the discomfort in her, the one she can’t quench no matter what she does. A part of her wants to tell him to forget it, to try to convince him that it is not a good idea to go after Lena. Nevertheless. James is her friend, and she feels like she can’t do that to him, so she just sighs and unconsciously, starts rubbing her temples again. As his friend, the least Kara owes him is an ear to listen, even if it’s really something she doesn’t want to hear. “Do you- do you think it’s a good idea?” she asks.

“I mean I’ve always found her really pretty,” he admits, blushing slightly, making a small pause as he thinks about something with a smile; and Kara can’t help the way she flinches slightly at that. “But after tonight’s stunt, I’m just… wow”

James gives her a look, almost as if looking for validation or approval from her after what he just told her, but Kara can only fake a smile at him, still trying to process his words. She then just looks down once again and lets out a defeated sigh. It’s not like Kara can blame him for liking Lena though, Kara herself is very deep into the same pit.

“So, you really like her…”

“Yeah, I think I do,” he says softly, a hint of a faint smile on his handsome face.

He seems lost in his thoughts and Kara really doesn’t want to break him out of his little bubble but thinking about the possibility of them dating one day, makes her stomach turn. Still, she knows that there is possibility that it may not work, but she is sure she really does not want to get there and find out.

“Don’t you think it could be a little hard?” she asks him suddenly, after a long pause, unconsciously voicing out her inner thoughts, making James frown in question at her. “Since you work together, I mean. It could get awkward.”

“But Alex and Maggie are dating, and they are doing fine,” he argues.

“Well yeah… I guess,” Kara replies then, without being able to stop fidgeting. She’s reached a dead end in this conversation and she can no longer look at James in the eyes, so she just looks to the ground instead. This is hard, too hard. She doesn’t even know what to say, she just wants to start running away the opposite way. “It’s just… I don’t know James, I don’t think I’m the right person for you to ask this,” it sounds harsher than she intended, but it is unavoidable.

James’s expression seems to fall at the rebuttal and it makes Kara feel bad deep inside, but in the end, she believes it’s for the best. In doesn’t take long though, for his face to morph a little as something seems to dawn on him, his eyes widening slightly as he looks at Kara apologetically, much to her confusion, before speaking again.

“Right! Yeah, you are totally right… you guys just recently became friends – how silly of me,” he says as he wildly moves his hands, unable to stay still. “Do you think I should ask Sam then?”

Kara gives him a look and then just lets out another tired sigh. It was not something she expected, but whatever keeps him away from bringing that topic up in front of her, she’ll take it.

“You know what? Yes, just ask Sam,” she lets out and at that, James beams happily.

“Great! Thank you so much, Kara,” after saying that, he gives her a fast hug, before he rushes to catch Sam.

The tall brunette has just left the precinct and James is probably hoping that he reaches her on time to ask. Kara watches him go into the elevator and starts rubbing her temples tiredly once again. She can’t be thankful enough that the conversation is finally over. Letting out another sigh, Kara gets ready to leave by grabbing her bag and hanging it over her shoulder.

“What was that about?” a voice suddenly says, making Kara jump startled.

Clutching her shirt where her heart is, conveying how this person scared the shit out of her, Kara turns around with eyes wide open and sees Alex standing there, arms crossed in front of her and an eyebrow raised in a questioning look.

“You heard?” she asks her sister, still surprised by her sudden arrival.

“It was hard not to,” Alex admits as she shrugs, making Kara sigh once again. She definitely did not expect her sister to overhear her awkward conversation with James, but now that she did, she doesn’t know how to feel about that.

“So, James wants to ask Lena out…” Kara just mumbles, faking nonchalance by shrugging and Alex furrows her eyebrows and scrutinizes her with a deep glare, not buying her sudden act of aloofness apparently.

“And you don’t want him to,” it’s a statement and not a question, and it unsettles Kara completely.

She catches the knowing look Alex is throwing her way and just rolls her eyes at her, before throwing her sister a warning look. Alex has been tiringly pestering her about the same thing over and over and Kara has denied it every time. Alex may be right, but that doesn’t mean Kara is ready to admit her feelings to her sister. This all new to her after all and she is still trying to process it.

“Alex, if this is another speech about how I like Lena, save it!” the blonde rushes to say warningly, coming across a little more bothered than she expected to be as her fists visibly clench. She is tired of hearing it even if she knows it’s true, “Because I already told you I don’t like her that!”

“Right,” Alex just mumbles, obviously still not believing her. Alex is looking at her in that way that says she can read her better than anyone else, but Kara doesn’t allow that to intimidate her.  “Then why didn’t you tell James to just go for it?”

“Because… I don’t know Alex.” She says, huffing exasperatedly. “It’s not like we are best friends now, okay? I can’t tell if she likes him or not… and what if things go wrong?  it’ll be so awkward working with them.”

At that, she just raises an eyebrow questioningly, “Maggie and I are dating, but we’d never let things get awkward if it didn’t work out,” Alex says shrugging and Kara lets out another tired sigh.

“But you don’t know if it’ll be the same with James and Lena,” Kara insists, already feeling how she is slowly losing patience as the conversation seems to continue going in circles. “Besides, like I told you, we don’t even know if she likes him like that.”

“And if she did like him, would that be problem?” Alex asks, this time, softer.

“Why would it be a problem?” Kara snaps finally, frowning as she looks at her sister with a strong glance “Lena can date whoever she pleases!”

\\\

The next day, when Kara arrives to the precinct, she grumpily makes her way to her desk and flops down onto her seat unceremoniously, slumping down slightly. She’s been unable to sleep the whole night, thinking and overthinking about the James and Lena issue. Obviously, she doesn’t like the idea of James wanting to ask Lena out, but she is not sure if she is ready to face the implications of that.

“What’s with the long face, Zor-El?” Kara looks up suddenly and sees Lena walking towards her seat in front of her, with a mug of coffee in her hand and a smile that’s too bright for her to have when it’s still so early in the morning.

“It’s nothing,” she mumbles under her breath, still sulking and Lena just snorts at her.

“If you say so,” she says, letting her off the hook for the moment.

Kara gives Lena a look and for an instant, considers telling her that what’s bothering her is the fact that James wants to ask her out. That it bothers her because James doesn’t really know her that well, he just wants to ask her out because he thinks she’s pretty and a good cop.

Kara lets out a sigh and she unconsciously bites her lower lip, trying to prevent herself from spilling James’ secret. He is her friend after all, so she can do that, no matter how much she dislikes the idea.

“Hey kids, morning briefing in five minutes,” Alex announces as she strolls out of the captain’s office walking towards the kitchenette to grab a mug and filling it with recently brewed coffee and Kara can’t be thankful enough for the interruption.

“Why does she talk to us as if she was forty?” Sam, who just appeared from the elevators, asks with an amused expression on her face as she deposits her bag on her desk.

“That’s because she is,” Kara jokes, trying to light up the mood a little bit and to shift the attention somewhere else. And apparently, she is successful because Alex appears next to her and just glares at her sister slightly.

“I can hear you,” Alex tells Kara, who just looks at her sister with a mischievous smile. “Now, move your butts, the captain is waiting.”

\\\

The briefing room is small and bright, but it’s a place everyone is comfortable in after spending so much time in it. There are tables with two horizontal seats lined up in two rows, a white board with pictures of possible suspects stuck to it to the left and a big screen where the captain usually displays their cases to the right.

“Good morning detectives,” Captain J’onzz greets them when everyone is already settled on their seats. “Any updates of the bombing case in Lord Technologies?” he asks then.

At that, Kara’s attention seems to perk up immediately. She been working on that case for the past two weeks, but she’s reached a dead end after all her findings have been dismissed for being ‘ _insufficient_ ’. Without further leads, she is stuck so hopefully, someone has new information so that she can proceed to finish this case that’s been bothering her so much.

At the captain’s question, Winn excitedly raises his hand, making him resemble a curious puppy and which makes Kara snort. J’onn directs his attention towards Winn then and signals for him to speak, to which Winn happily complies.

“Yes, so I hack- “ Winn stops mid-sentence, eyes opened wide, when he realizes what he was about to say, causing everyone to chuckle. J’onn only raises and eyebrow questioningly, but doesn’t say anything, so Winn backtracks and continues talking as if nothing had happened “- I mean very legally accessed Lord Technologies’ files and may have found a new lead” he says as everyone turns to look at him attentively. “It’s seems like the same technology they use for the military weapons they make was found on the bomb that exploded in the building.”

“That puts Maxwell Lord on top of our list of suspects,” Kara intervenes immediately, seemingly deep in her thoughts as she seems to be drawing some conclusions from this development.

It was something she failed to see before, but now that this new piece of information is in front of her, everything begins to make sense. But why would Maxwell Lord want to bomb his own company? Something didn’t make sense and she needed to find out.

Winn looks at the captain and nods vigorously, agreeing to what Kara just said, so J’onn just nods as well. “Well done, detective,” J’onn says after a while and then turns towards the other detectives in the room, who are waiting for the captain to tell them how to proceed. “Luthor and Olsen, you’ll go to Lord Technologies to check on this new lead. Report back if you find something,” at that, Kara frowns.

Before James or Lena can say anything though, Kara interjects suddenly. She’s been listening to the whole conversation attentively, but now that the captain is suggesting giving her case James and Lena, she feels like she has to protest.

“With all the due respect, captain…” Kara says in that moment and J’onn turns to look at her suddenly. “That’s the case I’ve been working on it for the past week. I should be the one going.”

Because it’s true, even if Kara knows, deep down, that these things happen. That sometimes, half-solved cases are given to other detectives. She’s never minded before, but there is something about it that is bothering Kara very much. By the way no one seems to argue about it, it seems like the squad agrees.

“Zor-El, I understand that you’ve been working on this case, but I need you on the Red K case instead,” he tells her. “If our informants are right, this new drug could be more dangerous than Green K.”

“But…”

“That’s final.” The captain says with a serious expression and Kara frowns again, still not happy with the idea, “You and Sawyer will head to the streets and try to gather more information about the Red K, this is something relatively new, so we need as much information as we can get.”

He makes a small pause, the last part of his statement clearly directed at Kara. “Detective Schott stay on the look for new leads regarding the bombing case,” he adds, looking at Winn now and the detective just nods. “Sergeant Danvers, Arias, I want you both on the street gangs’ case.”

“Yes, sir.”

\\\

Kara angrily storms out of the briefing room and flops down on her seat still fuming. She is still trying to process the fact that Captain J’onzz would take away the case she’s been working on for weeks when they are so close to catching the guy. What’s even more annoying is the fact that he gave it to James and Lena of all people.

Not that she doesn’t think they can handle it. In fact, James and Lena are great detectives and she knows that, but what annoys Kara, it’s the fact that they’ll be spending time alone working on the case, bonding and getting to know each other.

Kara just sighs at that. It sounds petty, but she can’t help the way it makes her feel.

“Kara,” Alex says as soon as she finds her. Her sister leans against Kara’s desk and puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I know it’s unfair that he is giving your case to someone else, but it was a good call to put you on the Red K case.”

And Kara knows that the Red K case is important. A few years ago, some detective dismissed the Green K as something minor and it turned out to be one of the biggest drug cases in National City. That’s why the captain is so worried about it, apparently, but for now, they just need to collect information about it and any detective can do it. J’onn doesn’t really need _her_ on this case specifically and for an instant, she thinks he’s just being petty.

“That’s not the decision that I’m questioning,” she mumbles under her breath, before she can even stop herself. Alex looks at her for a moment and then just lets out a sigh.

“Is this because he is sending James and Lena together?” Alex asks suddenly, and Kara just rolls her eyes.

“No!” Kara denies immediately, even if deep down, she knows that it’s partially true. It’s something that she won’t admit to herself, let alone to her sister, so she’ll just continue to deny it. “It’s because it’s my case, I was very close to finally cracking it.”

Alex looks at her again and just lets out another sigh.

“I’m just saying that you’ve never reacted this way before when Captain gave your cases to other people”

“Alex,” she says warningly, and the sergeant just raises her hands in defeat, seeing that there is not point in continuing to argue with her sister. And Kara doesn’t even know what exactly she is angrier about, but she lets all the feelings sink in at once.

\\\

For the past twenty minutes, Kara’s been pondering about what to do, playing with her fidget spinner to avoid breaking something out of frustration. After the anger washed over, being completely replaced by utter frustration, Kara figured that she had to do something about the issue.

When he finally spots Winn walking back towards his desk after a while, suddenly an idea pops up in her mind. With an expression akin to an evil grin, she rapidly rolls her chair towards Winn’s side and looks at him with her complete attention.

“Winn! My dearest friend Winn!” she says, her voice going octaves higher as she tries to sound the nicest she can. The sides of her eyes wrinkle a little as her directs a very powerful eye-smile his way, but that seems to unsettle Winn instead. The guy turns his heads to look at her and just frowns.

“What do you want, Kara?” he deadpans, looking at Kara suspiciously, his eyes almost becoming thin lines as he scrutinizes her hardly.

“What makes you think I want something?” Kara asks immediately, feigning offense at the implication as she gives him a horrified look that still doesn’t seem to deter Winn. Of course, Winn would know she is up to something. Not that Kara didn’t expect that.

“You called me ‘ _your dearest friend’_ and you only speak so nicely to me when you want something,” he says, still frowning at her, as he crosses his arms in front of him before giving Kara a questioning look, slumping further into his seat.

“Lies!” Kara says immediately, clutching her chest theatrically. “You wound me, Winslow.”

“Now that’s the Kara I know,” he replies, pointing a finger at her. Kara just looks at him and fights the urge to laugh in that moment. “So, what do you want?”

In that moment, Kara’s expression suddenly morphs into a happier one, a wide smile appearing on her face. “I need you to cover up for me with Maggie on the Red K’s case,” she drawls out and Winn’s eyes widen in surprise.

“What?!” he squeaks, suddenly outraged at the suggestion as his jaw drops, “But the captain said…”

“I know what the captain said!” Kara interrupts immediately, frowning. Thinking about the captain’s decision still bothers her, so she sounds angrier than she wanted to. “But I need to help Lena and James on the case! I’ve been working on it for the past weeks”

“We’ll be disobeying a direct order Kara, it’s going to get us in trouble.” Winn stubbornly tells her and at that, Kara just rolls her eyes. Somehow, she expected Winn’s rebuttal, but that won’t stop her from trying to convince him.

“He doesn’t need to find out,” Kara fights back, giving Winn her best puppy eyes and her mortal pout, the one that even Alex has a hard time saying no to, “Please Winn.”

“You know how afraid I am of breaking the rules, Zor-El,” he tells her immediately, trying to avoid looking into Kara’s eyes because he knows that if he does, he’ll cave. However, Winn is not Kara’s best friend for nothing; she’s known him for years and she’s learned to read him like and open book, so she knows that Winn is about give in by the way he squirms uncomfortably in his seat. A little more persuasion and she’s sure he’ll agree. “That’s the reason I became a cop in the first place!” he argues.

Kara seems to get lost in her thoughts after a moment of silence, pondering about what else she can do to convince Winn to help her.

It is then that an idea pops into her mind, a smug smile suddenly replacing her pensive expression when she realizes she didn’t think about this before. “Technically, Captain J’onzz didn’t say we couldn’t switch cases” she finally says, a coy a smile in her face as she gains satisfaction in knowing that there is not a way in which Winn can get away now. Detectives switch cases sometimes and the captain has never been against it before. “He’s allowed that before”        

Winn curses under breath, his expression falling visibly as he tries to think of a retort. He pales visibly as he opens his mouth attempting to say something in response, but nothing comes out and Kara can almost taste the victory already.

Checkmate.

“I hate loopholes,” he mutters under his breath begrudgingly, before groaning and dropping his face into his desk in a clear sign of defeat. Kara brightens up at that and beams at him then, almost as if she hadn’t just suggested going behind their captain’s back.

“No, you don’t,” she says knowingly, and he sighs “You love them!”

Winn just gives Kara a glare as she attentively looks at him almost as if daring to deny it, before he huffs again. “Okay, but I hate breaking the rules!”

“I’ll buy you new Star Wars toys!” Kara offers then.

Her eyes then immediately wander towards Winn’s desk and sees the vast collection of toys at display there. Kara recalls one time where she caught Winn almost yelling at someone that accidentally let one of his toys fall from his desk to the floor, so she knows how important those are for him.

“Those are not toys!” he complains, blushing in embarrassment and once again, Kara fights the urge to laugh. “Those are very rare collectible items!”

“Ok whatever you say,” Kara tells him “So, you’ll do it?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Not unless you want me to tell Kal what you said about…”

“Please stop talking!” he immediately tells her, now completely red and Kara beams at him, an evil glint in her eyes. Winn’s ears tint bright red and he starts fanning himself, visibly squirming under Kara’s knowing gaze. “Ok ok, I’ll do it, just please don’t say anything. Geez Kara.”

“Thank you!”

“So, what do I tell Maggie?” Winn finally asks, letting out a defeated sigh.

“I’ll talk to Maggie, you handle Pam” at that Winn groans.

“But Pam hates me!”

\\\

“Hey Pam,” Winn sheepishly says as he approaches Pam’s desk.

The girl in question doesn’t even look up from her computer as she continues to type on her keyboard. Pam handles HR in the precinct and she also works as the captain’s personal assistant, so all cases somehow go through her and technically, Kara needs to inform her of the switch.

“No.” she just says.

“You don’t know what I was going to say.”

“Still no.”

In the end Winn doesn’t convince Pam to go along with the new plan, but Kara manages to sneak out of the precinct without being seen by her or by the captain.

\\\

\\\

As Lena and James make their way to Lord Technologies, Lena starts feeling a little bit weird since James has been awkwardly quiet the whole ride. He is driving one of the precinct cars, and Lena is riding shot gun, but in the fifteen minutes they’ve been there, James hasn’t say a single word to her.

Lena turns to look at him curiously, wondering if somehow, she’s said something that has offended him, but he doesn’t look mad. She only notices the way he’s been nervously tapping on her steering wheel for the past minutes as if he wanted to say something, but later backtracked.

“James?” she asks suddenly, and he almost jumps startled upon hearing her voice, turning to look at her with his eyes wide in surprise.

“Yeah?”

“Sorry I didn’t mean to startle you, but are you okay?” she asks curiously, and he just laughs nervously at her. “You seem quite… fidgety.”

“Fine, yeah, totally fine,” he replies immediately, dismissing her with his free hand, but despite what he says, he doesn’t seem fine to Lena. He keeps on tapping the steering wheel with nervous fingers and Lena looks at him questioningly but doesn’t press further.

Soon enough, they arrive to Lord Technologies’ main building and walk out of the car. Lena cannot express how thankful she is about being out of the car, because the silence was becoming awkward and somehow, uncomfortable. Something that she had never experienced with a co-worker before.

As they are about to show the badges to the security guards, before entering the building, James stops walking for a moment and turns his head, squinting his eyes at something to his left. James then makes a double take that manages to catch Lena’s attention. Frowning in confusion, Lena turns to him and follows his gaze. It is then that she spots a blonde girl in glasses and a ponytail that makes her raise her left eyebrow.

What is Kara doing here?

“Kara?” it’s James who finally asks, as Kara approaches them in a laid-back manner. When she’s finally reached their side, she just beams at them. “What are you doing here?”

“Captain J’onzz told me to give you back up,” she says, shrugging nonchalantly

“Really?” Lena asks, raising her perfect eyebrow at her, which seems to unsettle the blonde a little bit. Lena scans her with her green eyes, scrutinizing her to see if she is telling the truth or not and she can swear she notices the blonde squirm.

“Yup,” the blonde sheepishly says, avoiding Lena’s knowing gaze, instead focusing on James, who is looking at her still in surprise.

“Well, that’s lucky,” James says, with a faint smile on his face.

His expression is unreadable, so Lena cannot tell if he is okay with Kara joining them or not. Although, Lena wouldn’t know why James wouldn’t be okay with that. It was Kara’s case to begin with. Lena doesn’t quite believe that the Captain sent her, but the jury is still out.

“Let’s split up, that way we can do this faster.” Kara suggests as they pass the security guards and slip inside the building. Lena and James just look at her and just nod in agreement. “Luthor and I will go talk to Lord, James you go and see if they let you watch the security cameras from the day of the explosion”

And at first, it seems like James wants to protest, but he chooses to remain silent, simply nodding. He gives them one last look, before going left while Lena and Kara go right.

Kara instinctively turns to look at Lena then, probably to see if she wants to say something in protest for what she just suggested, but Lena doesn’t. The two detectives continue to make their ways through the Lord Tech’s corridors in silence as they make their way towards the elevator that will lead them to Lord’s office.

“So, tell me the truth, Zor-El,” Lena asks her after a while, suddenly breaking the silence, when they are finally alone and away from anyone’s earshot. The corridors are empty, save from some security guards, and Lena takes advantage of that to ask.  “Did captain J’onzz really sent you?”

Deep down, Lena knows there is no way the captain sent Kara to give them back up when he clearly stated he needed her in the Red K case, he was very firm in his decision. So, she just looks at the blonde questioningly, waiting for her explanation. Kara looks at her in slight surprise, probably not expecting to be caught in her lie, her cheeks tinting pink in embarrassment. Looking at Lena, Kara just lets out a defeated sigh.

“I switched cases with Winn,” she begrudgingly admits at last and at that, Lena grins in satisfaction as the two of them walk into the elevator and she presses the button that will lead them to the top floor. She just knew it and she relishes in the fact that she was right.

“I figured,” she tells her, and Kara just looks at her mouth agape, almost finding it hard to believe.

“So, you are not mad?” Kara suddenly asks, hesitantly and Lena turns to look her, a little confused by the question.

She doesn’t really have any reasons to be mad at her though and it surprises her that Kara cares enough about what she thinks to ask that. Whereas it is true that she lied to them regarding what the captain said, Lena is not mad because she understands.

“No, I get it. This is your case, you should be the one cracking it,” Lena says, reassuringly. It was Kara’s case from the beginning and she understands her frustration. If this had been her case, she would feel like that too. “But orders are orders, Zor-El.” Lena adds warningly.

The only thing that concerns her about Kara’s little stunt, is the fact that they are going behind the captain’s back. But she acknowledges they can use Kara’s help to solve the case.

“I know,” Kara says, before she grins wickedly at Lena, who just raises her eyebrow at her questioningly. At that Kara just continues with a smug smile “But captain didn’t say anything about not being able to switch cases.”

Lena snorts at that. Of course, Kara Zor-El would find a loophole in the whole situation. “Smart.” Lena admits, still laughing, “I love loopholes.”

“Of course you do.”

\\\

They go to see Lord in his office and he doesn’t take the news lightly. His face visibly hardens and heat seems to be rising up his whole boy by the way his face turns bright red, anger apparent in his features.

“Why would I plant a bomb in a building I own?” Maxwell Lord angrily asks when he finds out he is the prime suspect in the case, his voice raised in a clear attempt at intimidation. Neither Kara nor Lena cower though, both of them very used to this kind of behavior from men that find themselves cornered. Lord’s expression tightens as he glares at them, outrage clear in his tone, as he is still trying to process being accused of something like that, “I am not suicidal.”

“We are not accusing you here, Mr. Lord.” Lena patiently tells him, even though deep inside she just wants to throw him off the building because he is proving to be infuriating. By the way Kara rolls her eyes when she is not seen by him, she is done with his bullshit as well. “We are just asking you about the bomb’ manufacturer. It seems like the same technology used in that bomb is in the military weapons you build.”

“How would I know about that?” he asks, frowning at Lena and scrutinizing her with his eyes, almost as if trying to read her. “It’s not like my company is the only one that makes that kind of technology. You can go ask your mother at Luthor Corp.” Lord adds with a smug smirk on his face.

Silence fills the room as soon as he says that, and for a while he seems to be relishing at Lena’s expression as her face falls suddenly. That comment was clearly made to strike a nerve, and it clearly did. Lena clenches her fists, already filling the way anger is flaring up inside her. She tries very hard not to react, because she doesn’t want to give him the satisfaction of letting him know the way those words affect her. However, deep down, she is dying to wipe off that smirk from his face with a punch that she’ll probably not regret despite the consequences.

Kara notices the tension that suddenly builds up and visibly flinches at that. She wants to defuse the tension surrounding them but doesn’t really know how to do it, so she just remains quiet as she looks at Lena and Lord’s battle of wills.

Taking a deep breath, Lena turns to Lord once again and bores into his soul with a burning glare, “Luthor Corp does not manufactures weapons unlike Lord Technologies, Mr. Lord. And I would really appreciate if you leave my family out of this conversation, because if you need to be reminded, it’s a police investigation.” Lena says, jaw clenched, as she tries to keep her composure, “So, if your technology is that easily replicable, then is it even that good? Why would you consider it to be market ready if anyone can copy it?”

That comment seems to erase Lord’s smug smile from his face immediately, replacing it by a furious expression, and Lena notices the way Kara cannot help but smile in satisfaction at that. Seeing the way Lord slowly loses his composure, seems like a small victory to Lena and she relishes in that internally. She crosses her arms in front of her chest in a defying manner and this time, it’s her turn to smile smugly at him.

“Do you or do you not know anything about the bomb manufacturer?” Kara is the one that asks now, going straight to the point and glaring at Lord hardly, trying to gauge an honest answer from him, “It’s a simple yes or no question, Mr. Lord.”

“No, I don’t.” he spats at Kara with an angry expression on his face, “You can go check the security logs if you want, I was not on the building that night. I have a solid alibi. Now, if you excuse me detectives, I have a company to run and you are wasting my time with your nonsensical questions.”

\\\

\\\

“Well, Maxwell Lord seems like a really pleasant person,” Kara sarcastically says as they walk out of his office, but she grimaces as she thinks about how awful that man is. Lena just looks at her and rolls her eyes at the sarcastic remark.

Their conversation with Maxwell Lord was more exhausting than she expected and by the way Lena still has her fists slightly clenched, it is clear that she still hasn’t let what he said about her family go.

“I was five minutes away from punching him straight in the face,” Lena honestly admits as they stride into the elevator and Kara bursts out laughing at that, just looking at Lena in amusement, “I was going to let my Luthor genes shine through and then I would have allowed you to arrest me for abuse of power.”

“I wouldn’t have let you get to that.” Kara tells her softly, grinning at her and Lena just scoffs in response. “Do you think he could have planted the bombs himself?” Kara asks her then, shifting the light atmosphere into a serious one.

The sudden change in the subject makes Lena freeze slightly as she seems to get lost in her own thoughts.  “I don’t know,” Lena replies after a while, before letting out a sigh. She makes a long pause, almost as if she is considering what she is going to say next. “But I think he’s the kind of person that would do something like that,”

“But what for?”

“Motive remains unclear,” the brunette says pensively as she shrugs at the question. And Kara really didn’t want to go into that unchartered territory, but she has to admit that she thought about it too. Maybe it was his unnerving behavior or the way he seemed to be hiding something, but there was something about him that made Kara believe that he is capable of doing something as horrible at that, “But if there is something I’m sure of, is that he clearly knows how to make and defuse a bomb.” Lena says then and Kara can’t help but agree.

“Let’s go find James and see if he found something on the security logs.”

\\\

“James!” Kara calls as soon as they catch him in the first floor, walking out of the security room. He spots them and rushes towards them immediately, his expression showing distress.

“Any luck with Lord?” he asks them as soon as he has reached their side. Kara’s face morphs into one of disgust, conveying how awful it was talking to him, and Lena simply shakes her head.

“He won’t say anything,” Lena replies, clenching her face in utter annoyance, her face still showing how angry she is at him bringing up her family into the conversation earlier, “But apparently, he has a solid alibi, which we have not checked yet. Did you find anything?”

“I was checking the security logs and at first it seemed like there was nothing weird about them,” he begins explaining, gesturing wildly “But then the security cameras of the main lobby caught a guy around 8:25pm, like twenty minutes before the explosion.”

“He could be our bomber,” Kara says frowning and James nods

“However, when I asked around, they told me he doesn’t work here,” he says, making Kara frown in confusion again. How could someone that doesn’t work for the company be caught in camera at that hour? “Turns out, he is an ex-employee of Lord Tech. His name is Ethan Knox.”

“An ex-employee?” Lena asks with her left eyebrow raised, “Why would he want to plant bombs in the building?”

“Revenge maybe?” James asks with a shrug, and Kara considers it too, but she think it’s a little farfetched. “He was fired a few weeks ago for no apparent reason. Maybe he was seeking revenge for being fired.”

“By planting a bomb?” Kara asks, something about this story doesn’t completely fit and she doesn’t know why yet. It’s like there is missing puzzle piece in the story. “Isn’t that a little bit extreme?”

“Did you check with HR to see if he received full payment after being fired?” Lena inquires and James nods.

“I did,” he replies, “And yes, he did receive full payment after being fired. So money can’t be the motive.”

“So, why would he plant a bomb if it’s not because of money?” Kara asks pensively. This case getting weirder and weirder by the second. “And how did he get his hands on Lord Tech’s technology to manufacture this kind of bombs?”

“We don’t know if he made them.” James tells them and Kara frowns at that, “Maybe he stole them.”

“From whom?” Kara asks.

“Maxwell Lord maybe?”

“We are running in circles here,” she says and James just sighs. “And I do think it’s quite unlikely that he’d try to bomb his own building.”

“Let’s check Lord’s alibi first,” Lena suggests then, “And then go see this Ethan Knox and see if he is our bomber.”

 \\\

They go to look at Lord’s alibi first like they agreed, and apparently everything checks. The day of the bombing, Maxwell Lord had been in a gala fundraiser the whole night and only got back to the building as soon as he heard of the explosion. Apparently, they are a lot of eye-witnesses who can testify for him, which means Lord is not bomber, sending them back to square one.

After they find out that Lord is cleared, they go to see Ethan Knox, Lord’s ex-employee, next. Now, their only suspect on the case.

It doesn’t take them very long to find him though. He is hiding at home and as soon as the detectives corner him and question him, he confesses to the crime without beating around the bush. It seems to surprise Kara though, she’s been working in this case for two weeks, finding no real leads until today. Now this man just confesses to doing it without much pressure and it doesn’t sit well with her.

“Why did you do it?” James asks him, looking at him just as confused. His hands are cuffed behind his back and they are ready to take him back to the precinct to take his official statement. However, James can’t help but ask.

“Revenge,” the man simply replies as he looks at the detectives, “I wanted to kill Maxwell Lord for firing me.”

“Isn’t it a bit extreme?” Kara asks then, still not understanding why he would attempt something like that just for being fired and then admit to the crime so easily.

“You don’t understand,” he says, and his voice wavers a little then “My daughter is in the hospital receiving a treatment I could only afford due to the company’s employee insurance. But then Lord fired me for no reason and didn’t want to hear me when I begged him not to do it! So, I stole a bomb from the building and days later, planted it. Only I didn’t know that he wouldn’t be in the building.”

“Those two lives I took that day…” he says regretfully then, and Kara feels a pang of pain in her chest at the admission. Kara notices Lena’s and James’ hard expressions and knows they are thinking the same as her. “I feel so bad.”

It checks. Everything he says checks and they arrest him, but it leaves them shaken and with a bad taste in their mouth. There is something that they can’t shake though, and it is the uneasy feeling about Maxwell Lord that this whole case leaves them.

\\\

Kara knows she should have expected it, but it still takes her by surprise when she sees Captain J’onzz waiting for them with his arms crossed at the precinct. His expression is unreadable as always, but after years of working with him, Kara can already tell that he is angry.

Alex and the rest of the squad aren’t around, only Pam is in her seat, but she doesn’t even look from her computer as she listens to them. It is late, so everybody else probably went home already. She knows the officers of the night shift will arrive at any second, and she really doesn’t want them to be around when the captain eventually chews her out for what she did.

“Luthor, Olsen… Zor-El,” the captain says as soon as he sees them. Kara looks at the captain sheepishly but doesn’t say anything. “Luthor and Olsen, please go take the man’s official statement. I expect the paperwork with the signed confession on my desk as soon as it is done. Good job.”

The two mentioned detectives just nod and give Kara a look before retreating to their own seats. Captain J’onzz then just stares at Kara and continues speaking. “As for you Zor-El, I’ll see you in my office in two minutes,” he just says, before turning around and walking towards his office, making Kara cringe slightly.

Kara looks at the clock in the bullpen and doesn’t wait for the two minutes the captain said, she just makes her way towards J’onn’s office, feeling as if she was walking to court. Kara lets out a sigh and just walks into the office, leaving the bullpen behind.

“You disobeyed a direct order from a superior officer, Zor-El,” the captain angrily berates her as soon as she closes the door behind her, without even waiting for her to take a seat and make herself comfortable.

Kara looks at his disappointed expression and almost feels bad for disobeying him. Captain J’onzz is like father figure for all of the detectives in the precinct and she feels bad for disappointing him, somehow. However, she does not regret doing what she did.

“I switched cases with detective Schott,” Kara tells him, hoping that will lessen his anger, but that only manages to make him glare at her before he pinches the bridge of his nose in annoyance, “You didn’t say I couldn’t.”

“Was it really so necessary for you to be the one crack this case?” he suddenly asks, snapping at her. Kara flinches slightly. “Were you seeking recognition for it?”

“What? No!” Kara says immediately, still in disbelief at the suggestion. “It wasn’t me being desperate for attention captain!” she tells him, trying to keep her cool, but unable to doing so, because she cannot let the captain believe she was doing this for the recognition. She did it because it was the right call. “It was just about finishing a case I’ve been working my ass off on for the past weeks. It was helping fellow officers in a case I had more experience on!”

J’onn looks at her and sighs. Kara’s words seem to sink in and she finally senses that he starts to calm down a little bit. However, he is still giving her a disapproving look that Kara doesn’t seem to erase with anything.

“That doesn’t change the fact that you disobeyed my order,” he finally says after a while, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

Kara just sighs, before nodding

“I know,” she admits, “I’m sorry.”

J’onn looks at her one more time and lets out another tired sigh. That seems to have made the anger go away, to which Kara is thankful.

“As your punishment you’ll do everyone’s paperwork for a week” he declares, and Kara’s eyes widen in surprise.

“What?!” she asks shocked. Everyone’s paperwork? That’s seems a little too much. “Do you know how terrible Vasquez and Sawyer are with their paperwork.? They pile finished cases for weeks!”

“Do you want it to be two weeks?” he says as soon as he senses her protest.

Kara stares at him, mouth agape, and stops complaining. She really does not wish to spend her time doing two weeks of paperwork from cases that aren’t even hers, but there is nothing she can do about it.

“No sir.”

\\\

When Kara finally walks out of the captain’s office, she is surprised to see James waiting for her. She looks around and doesn’t see Lena anywhere, just James who is standing by the door and that smiles at her as soon as she sees her walk out of the office.

“So, how was it?” James asks her as the two of them walk back towards Kara’s desk.

“Two weeks of paperwork,” Kara says sighing as she flops down onto her seat tiredly and takes the little anti-stress ball that is always on her desk, clenching her fists against it. James leans against her desk, crossing his arms in front of him as he looks at her with an empathic expression.

“Well, that’s not as bad as I expected.” James tells her.

Kara looks up to face him once again and just sighs.

“I’m sorry for lying anyway, I hope that doesn’t get you and Lena in trouble,” she tells him sincerely. She didn’t really think about how it would affect Lena or James, but now she just hopes the captain doesn’t punish them because of her.

“It’s okay, Kara,” the man says reassuringly, putting a comforting hand in Kara’s shoulder with a light smile “I understand why you did it. I’ve would have been angry too if it had been my case.”

Kara looks at her friend once again and lets out a tired breath. She feels like she acted like a terrible friend the whole day, all because she didn’t want James to ask Lena out. Deep inside, she was afraid that if James and Lena spent too much time together like Lena and her did in their stake out, Lena would start seeing James in a different light. She didn’t want that

She is jealous.

She didn’t want to admit it before, but she is. And she’s been acting like a jerk towards James, because she didn’t want to face that fact. The fact that she was extremely jealous of the possibility of the two of them dating. And it’s time to stop now.

“Hey James…” Kara mumbles softly, not looking at him in the eyes.

“Yeah?” he asks suddenly

“I think you should just go for it,” she finally says. It breaks her heart a little bit to say that, but it doesn’t matter what she feels anymore. She can’t get on the way of her friend’s happiness. She is not that kind of person. In the end, it should be Lena’s choice whether she wants to go out with James or not.

“What do you mean?” he looks at her with a confused expression, and Kara can’t help but let another breath out.

“With Lena,” she explains, “You should ask her. She’s great, you two are going to be great.”

And it’s true. She thinks Lena is great and she very fond of James, so she knows if it happens, they’ll be great together even if she dreads the idea. After a few minutes of surprise, it finally dawns on James, what Kara is trying to say, and he beams at her in response.

“Thanks Kara.”

James gives her a brief appreciative hug, before walking away to look for Lena, who is just waltzing in to the bullpen once again with her cellphone in hand. Kara looks at her and for an instant, Kara’s gaze meets hers. Lena smiles at her, softly, and Kara smiles back.

 _It’s a terrible idea_ , she tells herself.

Because she likes her.

But James likes her too, and it’s not like she ever stood a chance.

\\\

Kara stays in her seat for a while, not really doing anything important. She probably should have headed home or maybe she could have gotten started with all the paperwork she has to do as punishment, but she can’t concentrate on anything right now. Her legs continue to move endlessly and the fidget spinner in her right hand hasn’t stopped swirling for the past fifteen minutes.

She knows she shouldn’t stay, her brain is screaming her to leave and not be there to see James and Lena’s happy faces after he asks her out. But maybe a part of her likes suffering like that. Because she wants to know. Whatever her answer is, she wants to know so that she can be prepared.

It doesn’t take long for James to come back and it surprises Kara to see him alone, Lena nowhere to be seen. He looks dejected and a little bit disappointed and Kara just knows in that instant what may have happened.

_Lena turned him down._

Kara’s heart skips a beat at the thought and her palms start sweating unconsciously, but she doesn’t even have time to process what happened, because James just flops down onto the seat in front of her and lets out a defeated sigh.

“So… what happened?” Kara tentatively asks, even if the answer is written on his face.

James lets out another sigh, before he looks at her dejectedly. The answer is obvious, but still he makes himself tell her.

“She said no,” he admits, her face falling slight as he huffs a breath.

“Oh,” it’s the only thing that Kara manages to say.

She can’t even say she is sorry because she is still trying to process everything. A part of her probably feels sorry for her friend for being rejected, but she can’t really get herself to be sorry about that fact that Lena doesn’t like James.

_Lena doesn’t like James._

“Yeah.” James says with a pained and tired expression, “She said it wouldn’t work and maybe she was right.”

“It’ll be okay,” Kara tells him, patting his shoulder lightly and he just smiles faintly at her.

“Thanks Kara.”

\\\

James leaves a few minutes after talking to Kara, and the blonde is left thinking. Thinking about James and thinking about Lena. About the possible reasons why Lena might have turned him down.

James is good guy and he is really handsome. Kara even admits to herself that there was time when she had a minor crush on him, until she realized she liked him better as a friend. Despite all that, she acknowledges he is the kind of guy that any girl who liked guys would want to date and it leaves her wondering why Lena rejected him.

She knows, deep down, that there is the possibility that Lena simply just doesn’t like James like that, but she can’t help but think that there is something more about it.

Kara’s thoughts are suddenly interrupted as soon as she hears footsteps approaching her desk. She looks up and her gaze meets Lena suddenly, who just smiles at her as she walks towards her own desk in front of Kara’s.

Kara’s heart unexpectedly starts beating a little faster as she expectantly waits for Lena to tell her about what happened.

“Hey,” Lena greets her as she sits down in front of her computer, placing her cellphone back into her desk.

“Hey,” Kara greets her back, trying to focus on anything other than the person in front of her, but unable of doing so. Her whole body is filled with adrenaline and anticipation and she is itching to ask.

“Good news,” Lena tells her suddenly, piquing her interest. Lena looks happy and it makes Kara wonder why that is. It’s not what she expected her to say, but she’ll take it as a distraction. “I spoke with Knox’s wife and got her to agree to transfer her daughter to the Luthor’s Children Hospital, all expenses covered of course. I felt bad that there was nothing we could do about it, so I spoke to her and she happily agreed.”

Kara’s eyes widen in surprise and just looks at Lena with so much amazement, it makes the brunette blush shyly. The blonde is speechless, looking like a fish out of the water with her mouth agape as she stares at Lena in awe.

“Lena, that’s… that’s amazing!” she manages to tell her finally.

Because it really is. She can’t believe Lena would do something like that. Scratch that, she _can_ believe Lena would do something like that. She knows what happened didn’t settle well with any of them, so Kara is grateful that Lena found a way to help Knox’s family.

Lena really is that kind of person. That’s why she likes her…

And in that moment, Kara can’t stop that train of thoughts. Because it took her a stupid bet and a failed date to realize she likes her and it took her even longer to admit it to herself. But now the thought is unstoppable.

“It’s the least I could do,” Lena shyly says, her cheeks tinting slightly pink at the compliment. But then her expression turns hard as she seems to be thinking about something else, “I still don’t trust Lord though.”

“Me neither.” Kara admits as well. Because after they encounter with him and everything he said, it is hard to trust him. Kara will keep an eye on him, just in case he turns up to be the big villain of the story.

They stay in comfortable silence after that and Kara really doesn’t want to burst the bubble, but something has been eating her up inside for the past minutes. She wants to know. She really wants to know the reason why Lena rejected James.

“So… James told me what happened,” Kara hates to break the comfortable silence like that, but she does and at Lena apologetically when she notices that her smile falls.

Lena looks at Kara with her eyes slightly widened for an instant, blushing a bit, and then just lets out a tired sigh as she looks down. “He is a good guy and I like him, but not romantically,” she begins explaining as she starts to fidget. “We wouldn’t have worked anyway.”

It wouldn’t have worked. It’s the same thing James told her that Lena said, but Kara really needs to the reason behind that.

“Why?” Kara asks, suddenly feeling curious about that. She is nervous and unable to meet Lena’s gaze. The same idea has been wandering around her mind for hours. Did Lena reject James because she likes someone else? A part of her is afraid to ask because she doesn’t know if she is ready for more disappointment. She doesn’t know if she is ready for Lena to tell her she likes somebody else, but she _needs_ to know, because if there is even the slight possibility that she may like her back, she has to know. “Do you… do you like someone else?”

Kara almost sputters as she delivers the question, her cheeks heating up suddenly.

“What?” Lena asks, taken by surprise, before blushing slightly. “It’s not that…I just think it’d be quite hard… dating a co-worker,” Lena explains, nervously looking at any place but Kara. “Regardless of who I like… I think it’s not a good idea to date fellow cops,” Lena softly admits, letting out a sigh.

“Oh,” somehow that simple expression manages to convey all of Kara’s disappointment upon hearing what Lena said. She tried, and failed miserably, not to get her hopes up, but she did. Now, she feels silly.

 “Yeah,” Lena nervously says as she gathers all the papers she has in front of her and puts them all inside a folder in a hurry. It’s a very un-Lena thing to do -Lena is usually very tidy and throughout with her paperwork – but Kara doesn’t even notice the small detail, too focused on her own thoughts and feelings. “I-I have to go give this paperwork to the captain.”

“Okay,” it’s the only thing that Kara says as she watches Lena stand up to go the captain’s office. As she watches her disappear behind Captain’s J’onzz’ door, she lets out the disappointed sigh she’s been holding back.

Maybe love is not for her, she thinks.

For now, she’ll just focus on the pile of paperwork she has to do as punishment. Maybe that’ll help her distract her from her feelings.

**Author's Note:**

> Finally got to finish the first chapter of the sequel!  
> Hope you guys like it :D


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